Bill Kellerhttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/bill-keller
en-usTue, 03 Mar 2015 14:24:30 -0500Tue, 03 Mar 2015 14:24:30 -0500The latest news on Bill Keller from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-kellers-religious-test-2011-8Are Bill Keller's 'Questions About Faith' For GOP Contenders Valid?http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-kellers-religious-test-2011-8
Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:58:00 -0400Michael Medved
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<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4de8f63b49e2aeb8620d0000/bill-keller.jpg" border="0" alt="Bill Keller" />Do religious conservatives operate far outside the American mainstream and pose a serious threat to our pluralistic democracy?</p>
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<p>Bill Keller, outgoing editor of <em><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/the-new-york-times" class="hidden_link">The New York Times</a>,</em> raises that basic challenge in a wildly controversial column that appeared Sunday under the heading &ldquo;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/magazine/asking-candidates-tougher-questions-about-faith.html" target="_blank">Asking Candidates Tougher Questions About Faith.</a>&rdquo;</p>
<p>Actually, his specific questions for GOP contenders don&rsquo;t seem tough at all, and the fact that Keller considers them so formidable demonstrates his dismissive, condescending attitude toward religious believers of every stripe. After all, he begins his piece by explicitly comparing faith to claims &ldquo;that space aliens dwell among us.&rdquo; While allowing that belief in extraterrestrial visitors might not disqualify a &ldquo;candidate out of hand,&rdquo; Keller sensibly insists that he &ldquo;would certainly want to ask a few questions. Like, where does he get his information? Does he talk to the aliens?&rdquo;</p>
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<p>Does the columnist here suggest that praying to God regularly (as more than three quarters of Americans say they do) seems to him just as suspect and delusional as conversing with imaginary inter-stellar invaders? In any event, he doesn&rsquo;t mean to challenge GOP contenders on supernatural communication (since none of them have yet made the claim that God, or angels, or giant reptiles from Alpha Centauri have recently provided campaign advice), but he does want to pin them down with queries that he considers a fiendishly clever trap.</p>
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<p>According to the logic of his commentary, Keller assumes that any straightforward answer to his questions would either alienate the candidates&rsquo; fervently religious (and presumably knuckle-dragging) core supporters, or else render the contender unacceptable to the well-educated, suburban, and secular voters any Republican needs to defeat Barack Obama. The anticipated failure of the candidates themselves to respond to the questionnaire will only encourage the enlightened opinion-shapers of <em>The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/new-york-times" class="hidden_link">New York Times</a></em> to harrumph in supercilious indignation, secure in the notion that simple challenges posed by their august editor count as unanswerable for the simple-minded rubes of the religious right.</p>
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<p>Let me therefore resolve this impasse and provide precisely the answers that Keller and Company demand, writing in the (wholly unauthorized) name of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/rick-perry" class="hidden_link">Rick Perry</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/michele-bachmann" class="hidden_link">Michele Bachmann</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/mitt-romney" class="hidden_link">Mitt Romney</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/rick-santorum" class="hidden_link">Rick Santorum</a>, and other candidates who powerfully appeal to &ldquo;values voters.&rdquo; I would assume that each of these politicos would feel generally comfortable with the responses provided below.</p>
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<p>The three questions posed in Keller&rsquo;s column demanded to know:</p>
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<p><em>Do you agree with those religious leaders who say that America is a &ldquo;Christian nation&rdquo; or a &ldquo;Judeo-Christian nation"?</em></p>
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<p>Of course America is a Christian nation&mdash;just as Thailand is a Buddhist nation or Italy is a Catholic nation&mdash;but our Constitution guarantees that we will always maintain a secular government. When all 13 of the original Colonies were founded by Christians (and most of them fiercely devout Christians, in fact), and when more than 85 percent of Americans have always described themselves as &ldquo;Christian&rdquo; in one denomination or another, denying the shaping significance of this religious heritage makes no more sense than ignoring the influence of British culture and institutions. The plethora of ardently competing denominations made it unthinkable for the new nation to become a Baptist, or Quaker, or Congregationalist country, and the First Amendment denied Congress the power to &ldquo;establish&rdquo; any one religion, but few members of the founding generation shied away from describing their society as Christian in the broadest sense.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, when I take the oath of office as president of the United States, I will pledge to uphold the Constitution&mdash;including the all-important First Amendment prohibition against imposing any one official faith on a pluralistic populace, or using state power to privilege any religious outlook&mdash;or any anti-religious outlook, for that matter. Just as we shouldn&rsquo;t favor one religion over another, we can&rsquo;t promote doubt above faith.</p>
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<p><em>Would you have any hesitation about appointing a Muslim to the federal bench? What about an atheist?</em></p>
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<p>I would have no hesitation appointing Muslims or atheists to the federal bench (or to other positions) so long as they demonstrated the same commitment to the Constitution that I would demand of Christian, Jewish, or Hindu appointees. Because some radical Muslim sects (which represent only a tiny majority of our loyal Islamic citizens) seek to replace our legal system with Koranic law, I would prove especially vigorous in examining the constitutional commitments of any members of such groups who might otherwise seem qualified for judicial office.</p>
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<p><em>What is your attitude toward the theory of evolution, and do you believe it should be taught in public schools?</em></p>
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<p>Of course evolution must be taught in the public schools, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean it can&rsquo;t be questioned. A 21st-century education requires a working understanding of Darwin&rsquo;s theory but might also include familiarity with some of the recent challenges (based on DNA analysis and other scientific evidence) posed to that theory. Most important, state and local school officials should make their own decisions about curricula; as a strong supporter of more local control of schools, I want no federal role in determining how your neighborhood school decides to present the theory of evolution.</p>
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<p>In a blog following up on his own column, Keller offers more questions that could be dispatched with similar ease, for instance:</p>
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<p><em>Is it fair to question candidates about controversial remarks made by their pastors, mentors, close associates, or thinkers whose books they recommend?</em></p>
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<p>It&rsquo;s certainly fair and appropriate to challenge candidates if their spiritual counselors make remarks involving political issues (like Rev. Jeremiah Wright, once Barack Obama&rsquo;s pastor, who claimed that the U.S. government sponsored the AIDS virus as part of a genocidal conspiracy) but not if those remarks pertain to only theological or historical questions (like Wright&rsquo;s insistence that Jesus was black, and not related to contemporary Jews). As to Keller&rsquo;s general inquiry<em>&mdash;Is it fair to question presidential candidates about details of their faith?</em>&mdash;it surely makes sense to ask presidential aspirants about any religious specifics that might realistically impact their performance in office, but not to press the candidates simply to make their personal beliefs look weird or illogical.</p>
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<p>When Joe Lieberman was the Democrats&rsquo; vice-presidential nominee in 2000, the press peppered him with questions on how he&rsquo;d respond if an emergency interfered with his commitment to strict Sabbath observance, and Lieberman respectfully recounts these interchanges in his wonderful new book, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451606176/thedaibea-20/" target="_blank">The Gift of Rest</a></em>. It would cross an important line, however, to demand of Lieberman if he believed God really wants him to abstain from eating shrimp, or whether his wife, Hadassah, went monthly to the mikvah (ritual bath) during her childbearing years.</p>
<p>In the same context, it would prove insulting and intrusive to demand of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/mitt-romney" class="hidden_link">Mitt Romney</a> what benefit he derived from wearing Mormon underwear, or to ask <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/rick-santorum" class="hidden_link">Rick Santorum</a> if he felt that he actually consumed blood and flesh when he took communion, or to inquire of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/michele-bachmann" class="hidden_link">Michele Bachmann</a> whether she agreed with the anti-Catholic attitudes of some of her long-ago professors at Oral Roberts University.</p>
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<p>The candidates themselves should continue to ignore Bill Keller and his interrogation, not because the questions are hostile and mean-spirited (though they certainly are) or because they are profoundly difficult to answer (which they certainly are not). The problem with the whole line of discussion involves its power to distract from the central concern of all voters, which remains the sorry state of the American economy and the appalling absence of new jobs.</p>
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<p>It makes sense for Obama sympathizers to try to change the subject (by discussing attitudes toward evolution and other irrelevant controversies) just as Republican leaders who seek to replace the beleaguered president should concentrate relentlessly on the all-important economic issues and refuse to take the religion-bashing bait.</p>
<p><em>This <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/30/new-york-times-editor-bill-keller-s-religious-test-for-presidential-candidates.html">post</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/">The Daily Beast</a>.</em></p>
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</div><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-kellers-religious-test-2011-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-quits-his-terrible-no-good-nyt-magazine-column-2011-7Bill Keller Quits His Terrible, No Good NYT Magazine Columnhttp://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-quits-his-terrible-no-good-nyt-magazine-column-2011-7
Mon, 25 Jul 2011 09:16:00 -0400Noah Davis
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/bf7a6c799e609d49817ca200/billkeller-tbipng.png" border="0" alt="billkeller tbi.png" /></p><p>Bill Keller's post-<em>NYT-</em>executive-editor life will be a bit simpler: He is giving up his column in <em><a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/the-new-york-times">The New York Times</a> Magazine</em>.</p>
<p>Keller, who was supposed to pen roughly 30 columns per year for the redesigned Sunday publication, <a href="http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/memo-pad-fighting-back-3384275?navSection=media-news&amp;toc_preselected=65#/article/media-news/fashion-memopad/memo-pad-3732930?navSection=media-news" target="_blank">will focus solely on op-eds</a>.</p>
<p>The move can't be a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention.</p>
<p>Keller's columns - such as the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/magazine/the-twitter-trap.html?_r=2&amp;ref=magazine" target="_blank">Twitter one</a> - drew ire from the general public and his own reporters. (Additionally, as <em>WWD </em>reports, he had a correction rate of 41.6%. )</p>
<p>Keller sounds pleased by the move. "Op-ed has greater license to have opinions, and a day-before deadline," he said.</p>
<p>And really, this needed to happen. For us, the column <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/absurdly-bill-keller-now-hates-books-2011-7" target="_blank">two weeks ago</a> was the final straw. It wasn't the topic - although, eesh - it was the fact that the diatribe against staffers writing books felt like a staff memo. Keller made good points in the essay, but they were completely irrelevant to 99% of the reading audience.</p>
<p>That's not what you want in an FOB columnist. We look forward to seeing if he can connect better on a day-to-day level.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-quits-his-terrible-no-good-nyt-magazine-column-2011-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/absurdly-bill-keller-now-hates-books-2011-7Absurdly, Bill Keller Now Hates Bookshttp://www.businessinsider.com/absurdly-bill-keller-now-hates-books-2011-7
Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:53:33 -0400Noah Davis
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4de8f63b49e2aeb8620d0000/bill-keller.jpg" border="0" alt="Bill Keller" /></p><p>Bill Keller's war against the internet <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-twitter-arianna-stupid-2011-6" target="_blank">is over</a> so the outgoing executive editor of <em><a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/the-new-york-times">The New York Times</a></em> is picking a new target: books, specifically the reporters who take leave to write them.</p>
<p>In his latest column for <em>The <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/new-york-times-magazine">New York Times Magazine</a></em>, Keller writes about <strong><a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/brian-stelter">Brian Stelter</a></strong>'s new book and how he is sick and tired of his reporters penning tomes.</p>
<p>Writing a book is a difficult process - proven by the Keller's two failed experiences - and he tells his reporters stroies of the "agony" they can expect. </p>
<p>But still, "off they go to write books" about a wide range of topics (all of which are linked in the piece online).</p>
<p>Keller also has another issue with his writers taking time for books: It takes away from the manpower of the <em>Times</em>.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Books mean writers who are absent or distracted from daily journalism, writers who have to be replaced when they leave their reporting beats and landed somewhere when they return. There is the tricky relationship between what they unearth for their books and what goes into the paper.</p>
<p>And that's not a bad point. But why, oh why, is this in the <em>Magazine</em>? How is Keller's trouble keeping his staff relevant to the greater population? As <strong>Emily Witt</strong> at the <em>Observer </em>notes, the column "<a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&amp;ct2=us%2F0_0_s_0_0_t&amp;usg=AFQjCNHGi6kLd389p4dAEevYgtU6jISCDg&amp;did=188bd9f40dae6a8f&amp;sig2=rYo4K1DUSSUswlDanW3m5g&amp;cid=17593919950567&amp;ei=J8wdTuSUNcr_ggfb8OScAg&amp;rt=SEARCH&amp;vm=STANDARD&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.observer.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fbill-keller-deems-most-nyt-reporters-books-not-worth-reading%2F" target="_blank">reads more like a staff memo.</a>" It's a ridiculous thing to write about (in addition to being quite dumb in that a column like this might potentially piss off his talent).</p>
<p>So maybe the better question is not what Keller feels about books but why he has a column at the magazine in the first place?</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/absurdly-bill-keller-now-hates-books-2011-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/jill-abramson-nyt-huffpo-quit-2011-6Jill Abramson's Top Priority: To Stop Everyone From Fleeing The NYThttp://www.businessinsider.com/jill-abramson-nyt-huffpo-quit-2011-6
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 09:35:26 -0400Glynnis MacNicol
<p><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4de8df884bd7c875181b0000-364-272/arianna-abramson.jpg" border="0" alt="arianna abramson" width="364" height="272" />Jill Abramson</strong> will replace <strong>Bill Keller</strong> executive editor of the New York Times early this fall.</p>
<p>She tells Gabriel Sherman at New York that her <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/06/jill_abramsons_first_task_stop.html">first order of business will be "retention."</a></p>
<p>"The economy has improved, whether it's Bloomberg or the Huffington Post, I can feel on any given week that I'm playing whack-a-mole keeping our most talented people."</p>
<p>That point was driven home yet again yesterday with the news that the NYT had lost two more high profile reporters.</p>
<p>David Rohdes, the journalist who spend 7 months held captive by the Taliban, is departing for Reuters and Chris Suellentrop, an editor at the New York Times Magazine who was also responsible for the Opinionator blog, will become deputy editor at Yahoo's network of news blogs.</p>
<p>They join the ever growing list of NYTers who have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/s?q=arianna+nyt&amp;sort=date">fled straight into the arms</a> of Arianna's new HuffPo-Aol operation.&nbsp; Along with the high profile departures of Dexter Filkins and Frank Rich, to the New Yorker and New York, respectively.</p>
<p>Abramson does not elaborate on how she intends to accomplish this, but one imagines it will have to be tied to a more freeing online strategy (so much a part of what HuffPo has to offer) accompanied by proof of sustainability.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="entry-title"><a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/06/jill_abramsons_first_task_stop.html"><strong>Jill Abramson&rsquo;s First Task: Stop the <em>Times</em> Defections</strong></a> [NYMag]</p>
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</div><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jill-abramson-nyt-huffpo-quit-2011-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-new-york-times-huffington-post-new-media-pioneer-2011-6BILL KELLER: Actually, I'm A 'New-Media Pioneer'http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-new-york-times-huffington-post-new-media-pioneer-2011-6
Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:03:20 -0400Noah Davis
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/bf7a6c799e609d49817ca200/billkeller-tbipng.png" border="0" alt="billkeller tbi.png" /></p><p>Outgoing <em>New York Times</em> executive editor <strong>Bill Keller</strong> drew plenty of criticism for his Twitter take, but he believes he deserves some credit for bringing the Gray Lady into the digital age.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bill-keller-new-york-times-exit-interview-5873583" target="_blank">an interview with <em>Esquire</em>'s <strong>Scott Raab</strong></a>, Keller defended his credentials.</p>
<p>"So I may be the old-media id, but I think I may be entitled to some credit for being a new-media pioneer, at least within the context of the <em>Times</em>," he said.</p>
<p>And he might be right. Keller, along with former senior vice president of NYTimes.com <strong>Vivian Schiller</strong>, did more than any other high-level staffers to make the paper's website so lively, vibrant, and successful. As Keller tells Raab, he was the one who outlined why the digital newsroom and the print one needed to be combined.</p>
<p>The executive editor admitted he understood why the social media team was upset by his Twitter column and vowed to help. His task: getting <strong>Jill Abramson</strong>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/david-carr-jill-abramason-page-one-new-york-times-2011-6" target="_blank">who won't star in <em>Page One</em></a>, onto Twitter.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"We get that. But we're trying to proselytize for these tools in the newsroom, and the people who don't want to do it are using you as cover." I said, "What do I do to make it up to you?" And they said, "The first thing is, get Jill [Abramson, Keller's replacement] on Twitter." Which I'm doing.</p>
<p>Keller also mentioned a couple regrets he has from his tenure at the paper of record.</p>
<p>"I came in well aware that we had published some bad stuff about WMD in Iraq," he said. "I should have written a fulsome mea culpa and put [<strong>Judy Mille</strong>r] on a leash. Instead I waited a year to do that. I should have just taken that thing by the lapels and done it sooner. And I would confess that some of the shots I've taken at various people or news outlets were a little intemperate."</p>
<p><strong>Arianna Huffington</strong>, are you listening?</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-new-york-times-huffington-post-new-media-pioneer-2011-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/david-carr-jill-abramason-page-one-new-york-times-2011-6New New York Times Editor Not 'Self Important' Enough To Star In NYT Documentaryhttp://www.businessinsider.com/david-carr-jill-abramason-page-one-new-york-times-2011-6
Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:24:28 -0400Noah Davis
<p><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4d2b2d6a4bd7c85c01030000/david-carr.jpg" border="0" alt="David Carr" />David Carr</strong>, star of the upcoming documentary <em>Page One</em>, wants us all to know why new <em>NYT</em> executive editor JIll Abramson and her female colleague are <a href="http://www.baristanet.com/2011/06/coffee-with-david-carr/" target="_blank">relatively absent from the film</a>.<strong><br /></strong></p>
<p>In a telling interview, he says:&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Part of the reason there&rsquo;s so many men in the film and not that many women, is as men we&rsquo;ve been taught to be self important, to be these little banty roosters strutting around and thinking whatever we talk about is really important. Whereas my colleagues who are women really looked at it and said, no good can come from this. And Jill, who is now the editor of the paper, there is no way she would sit in front of the camera. No way."</p>
<p>Carr also discussed the recent comments <strong>Bill Keller</strong> made about Twitter and the rumors that Carr and his fellow media reporters staged an "intervention." </p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Let me be very very clear. I am never ever embarrassed about Bill Keller, a colleague and my boss. My argument to Bill Keller was not in the form of an intervention. An intervention makes it sound like we came up to his desk with lanterns and pitchforks.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I sent him an email. One, I said, when your boss is doing your job it&rsquo;s never good for you, so I have an obvious stake in this, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But B, you pulled us across Death Valley, in business terms. Our capital structure is solid and our sales are sufficient. You have maintained journalistic footprint the whole time. You&rsquo;ve prosecuted a two-front war journalistically. And you&rsquo;ve landed the <em>New York Times</em> on the other side. Why do you want to add another leg to the stool by become the conscience of media?&nbsp;If you write about Fox, if you write about Huffpo or Twitter, what you say is much more important than we say. It just is, because you&rsquo;re the editor.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Per se what he does is a lot more important and there&rsquo;s always the chance that his writing is going to create turbulence that me and Brian and others have to report through.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">But what&rsquo;s important to know about that is I said to him: <em>If that&rsquo;s how it is, no big deal, we can totally manage. I just want you to know</em>. And he responded very thoughtfully. I was listened to. And he went ahead and did exactly what he was going to do in the first place.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I don&rsquo;t care what he says about Twitter. I think he&rsquo;s dead wrong. And I know it&rsquo;s an important reporting tool for me. But am I worried about the <em>New York Time</em>s as crotchety and old media? <em>Please</em>. Damn what we say, watch what we do. To me, the whole idea that we&rsquo;re somehow embarrassed to be associated with Bill Keller, I don&rsquo;t give a rip about what people on Twitter say about Bill Keller. He has accomplished... Remember, he was not the first choice, and it was an accident of history. And the crown with him never fit. He never was the imperial executive editor of the <em>New York Times</em>, and he turned out to be a fabulous one."</p>
<p>(<a href="http://soupsoup.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">h/t</a>)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/david-carr-jill-abramason-page-one-new-york-times-2011-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/shep-smith-bill-keller-fox-news-2011-6SHEP SMITH: If Bill Keller Doesn't Think I'm Doing A Good Job He Has My Numberhttp://www.businessinsider.com/shep-smith-bill-keller-fox-news-2011-6
Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:23:53 -0400Glynnis MacNicol
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4d8a6274ccd1d5bb371c0000-328-229/shep-smith-libya.png" border="0" alt="shep smith libya" width="328" height="229" /></p><p>You may recall that before <strong>Bill Keller</strong> set his sights on <strong>Arianna Huffington</strong> and the stupidity of Twitter he made some headlines <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-nyt-fox-viewers-cynical-2011-3">criticizing Fox News</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>At a press club event last week -- before Keller stepped down -- Shep Smith hit back.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/shep-smith-on-bill-keller-i-don%E2%80%99t-enjoy-being-insulted-by-people-who-talk-in-generalities_b69433">Surprisingly sharply</a>.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;My goal and the goal of every journalist I know every day of your life is to be fair and to be balanced and to bring context and perspective. And if Bill Keller doesn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m not succeeding on a daily basis, he has my phone number. I don&rsquo;t enjoy being insulted by people who talk in generalities.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">My guess is that the people on his opinion page don&rsquo;t get that kind of broad and sweeping review. He has some very outspoken people on that page, and they are respected. And we have some outspoken opinion people, and he chooses to paint all of us with the same brush. We have journalists just like he does. And I&rsquo;ve worked very hard my whole life to try to remain exactly that. I did it when I worked for [local stations in Florida] CBS and I did it when I worked for ABC and I&rsquo;m doing it now. And, if someday I&rsquo;m doing it for somebody else, I&rsquo;ll do it there.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Journalists know what we do. We find out about things. We give them context and perspective and we report on them. That&rsquo;s all I&rsquo;ve ever wanted to do in 25 years in this business. That&rsquo;s all I&rsquo;m ever going to do. That&rsquo;s all <strong>Roger Ailes</strong> wants me to do. And I hope that&rsquo;s what Bill Keller wants out of his journalists, just like Roger Ailes wants out of his. It&rsquo;s not nice.&ldquo;</p>
<p>Maybe now that Keller has extra time on his hands he can go on Shep's show personally and discuss.</p>
<p>[<a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/shep-smith-on-bill-keller-i-don%E2%80%99t-enjoy-being-insulted-by-people-who-talk-in-generalities_b69433">Via TVNewser.</a>]</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/shep-smith-bill-keller-fox-news-2011-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/jill-abramson-arianna-huffington-nyt-2011-6Jill Abramson: I Certainly Don’t Want To Be In A War With Arianna Huffingtonhttp://www.businessinsider.com/jill-abramson-arianna-huffington-nyt-2011-6
Fri, 03 Jun 2011 09:22:00 -0400Glynnis MacNicol
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4de8df884bd7c875181b0000-359-268/arianna-abramson.jpg" border="0" alt="arianna abramson" width="359" height="268" /></p><p>Yesterday <em>New York Times</em> executive editor <strong>Bill Keller</strong> took much of the media world by surprise when he <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jill-abramson-named-new-executive-editor-of-the-new-york-times-2011-6">suddenly stepped down</a> to be replaced by <strong>Jill Abramson</strong>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Subsequent <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/02/jill-abramson-new-new-york-times-seize-future_n_870490.html">reports</a> have detailed the thinking that went into the decision -- short version: he wanted to get back to writing -- but it's hard not to conclude his recent <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-huffington-post-bill-keller2011-3">war of words</a> with <strong>Arianna Huffington</strong> had something to do with it.&nbsp; Or at least signaled a change was coming.</p>
<p>Keller, who was given column space in the newly overhauled <em>New York Time Magazine</em>, has used his new forum on a couple of occasions to criticize both Arianna and what the Huffington Post model represents, namely aggregation.&nbsp; In his last column he postulated that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-times-keller-2011-5">Twitter makes people stupid</a>.</p>
<p>All of which was met with a resounding chorus of <em>puh-lease</em>.</p>
<p>The cumulative effect of these missives was to make Keller look like a small-minded, cranky, out-of-touch old man yelling at the new media kids to get off his capital J journalism lawn.&nbsp; Which among other things, is pretty much the exact opposite image the <em>New York Times</em> wants.</p>
<p>And to be fair, it's also the opposite of what the <em>New York Times</em> deserves.&nbsp; The paper has been at the forefront of experimenting and determining what newspapers can and should look like online and has a strong and admirable new media presence.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; With each anti-new media, easily mocked column Keller was undercutting that pretty significantly (to the displeasure of <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/this-is-your-brain-on-twitter/">some of his top writers</a>).</p>
<p>Enter Abramson who wasted no time clearing the air with Arianna and company.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The <em>NYT</em>'s new executive editor appeared on CNN last night and declared:</p>
<p>"I respect the fact that an awful lot of people like to read that way and, in some cases, I think the Huffington Post has been inventive and presents what it aggregates well....I&rsquo;ve known Arianna Huffington since the early 90s in Washington, she&rsquo;s an inventive person, and I certainly don&rsquo;t want to be in a war with her.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It remains to be seen whether Abramson's appointment will be enough to stem the flow of <em>NYT</em> employees to Arianna's new HuffPo-Aol beast.&nbsp;&nbsp; Video below.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong>: Just seeing Gabriel Sherman's piece at New York magazine.&nbsp; Apparently Keller's column's upset the media so much <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/06/why_bill_keller_stepped_down_a.html">they staged an intervention</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><object id="ep" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="416" height="374"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="movie" value="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&amp;videoId=politics/2011/06/02/jk.jill.abramson.intv.cnn" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><embed src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&amp;videoId=politics/2011/06/02/jk.jill.abramson.intv.cnn" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" height="374" width="416" /></object></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jill-abramson-arianna-huffington-nyt-2011-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-expected-to-be-editing-the-new-york-times-for-five-or-10-years-2011-6Bill Keller Expected To Be Editing The New York Times For 'Five Or 10 Years'http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-expected-to-be-editing-the-new-york-times-for-five-or-10-years-2011-6
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:14:04 -0400Noah Davis
<p><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4adf47ea0000000000342557/bill-keller-new-york-times.jpg" border="0" alt="bill keller new york times" />Bill Keller</strong> shocked the media world Thursday <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jill-abramson-named-new-executive-editor-of-the-new-york-times-2011-6">when he announced he was stepping down</a> as executive editor of <em>The New York Times</em> to write full time.</p>
<p>As luck would have it, <em>Esquire</em>'s <strong>Scott Raab </strong>recently broke bread with the editor for a Q&amp;A that will run the magazine's August issue.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The friendly folks at <em>Esquire</em> sent around a preview of the interview in which Keller discusses how long he thinks he would stay in the executive editor role.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>SR:</strong> Do you see yourself doing this job in five or ten years?</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>BK:</strong> Obviously, I serve at the pleasure of the publisher [<strong>Arthur Sulzberger Jr.</strong>], so he gets a say in how long I stay.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>SR:</strong> He adores you, no?</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>BK:</strong> Arthur and I have, I think, developed a great deal of trust and mutual respect. When I started out in this job, we didn't know each other all that well. Which is probably why he didn't pick me the first time around. As time goes on and I look around the country, I can't see another publisher on earth that I'd trade him for.</p>
<p>There's also another telling exchange between the pair about how difficult editing the <em>Times </em>really is.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>SR:</strong> You're boss of <em>The New York Times</em>, your job is no dream job. Did you know how hard it was going to be?</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>BK:</strong> No. There's a lot of stuff they don't teach you in the mythical editors' school. They don't teach you that you're going to have to spend a lot of your life in crisis management. It's been a fair amount of that &mdash; every kind of crisis you can imagine, starting with a crisis of morale and credibility that I inherited, then going through one motherfucker of a recession.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>SR:</strong> Did the executive editor of <em>The New York Times</em> say "motherfucker" just now?</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>BK:</strong> It'll make my boss cringe, but it was pretty brutal, more brutal in the news business than in the average business. Plus, there's a sort of existential question about the whole business model of news brought on by the digital revolution, and in tandem with that there's the question of how you adapt a newsroom of people who grew up doing print to the audience and opportunities of the Web. There's also reporter-in-danger crises, of which I've had a fair share. Then there's other stuff that I sometimes think of as an in loco parentis role. You have these people who work for you, but they're also people. They have families and people in their family get cancer and die, and there's a lot of being there for people. That was not something I had anticipated. From coming in during the Jayson Blair scandal through having four journalists disappear in Libya, how do you put up with that stuff?&nbsp;</p>
<p>Read the <a href="http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bill-keller-leaving-the-times-5851163" target="_blank">entire exchange at Esquire.com</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-expected-to-be-editing-the-new-york-times-for-five-or-10-years-2011-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-huffington-bill-keller-new-york-times-pay-wall-2011-5ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: 'The New York Times Pay Wall Isn't Working'http://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-huffington-bill-keller-new-york-times-pay-wall-2011-5
Fri, 13 May 2011 09:03:32 -0400Noah Davis
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4d5154d4ccd1d51a1f1e0000/arianna-huffington.jpg" border="0" alt="Arianna Huffington" /></p><p>Can't we all just get along?</p>
<p>Apparently not, at least when it comes to <em>The New York Times</em> and the Huffington Post.</p>
<p><strong>Arianna Huffington</strong> took another shot in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-arianna-huffington-plagerism-2011-3" target="_blank">ongoing</a> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-kellers-apology-to-arianna-is-almost-as-embarrassing-as-the-article-that-inspired-it-we-seem-to-share-a--2011-3" target="_blank">battle</a> between her publication and the Grey Lady (or, more accurately, her and its executive editor <strong>Bill Keller</strong>).</p>
<p>&ldquo;<em>The New York Times</em> pay wall isn&rsquo;t working,&rdquo; <em>WWD</em> <a href="http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/memo-pad-fighting-back-3384275?navSection=media-news&amp;toc_preselected=65#/article/media-news/fashion-memopad/arianna-v-the-times-digital-play-3612218?full=true" target="_blank">reports she said</a> at a Gilt Groupe conference luncheon. &ldquo;It is so hedged and has so many exceptions that it should be called a hedge wall, not a pay wall.&rdquo;</p>
<p>And yes, she may be right. Traffic to NYT.com <a href="http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/05/nyt-paywall-update" target="_blank">is down</a> 20% since the advent of the paywall.</p>
<p>Then again, she may not be correct. The move to the paywall is all about revenue, and those numbers are not out yet. Early indications look okay, but who really knows?</p>
<p>And that is the bigger point: it's early to tell whether the paywall is working or not.</p>
<p>So honestly, what is the point of constantly yapping about it?</p>
<p>Sure it keeps Arianna in the news -- but she's pretty good at that regardless. And while the paywall discussion <em>is</em> an important one, it is only useful when there is new information.</p>
<p>Blasting back and forth every couple months helps no one. It only makes Huffington and Keller look increasingly ridiculous.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-huffington-bill-keller-new-york-times-pay-wall-2011-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/julian-assange-bill-keller-new-york-times-wikileaks-2011-4ASSANGE CONFRONTS KELLER: The NYT International Coverage 'Is A State Of Desperation'http://www.businessinsider.com/julian-assange-bill-keller-new-york-times-wikileaks-2011-4
Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:00:00 -0400Noah Davis
<p><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4cf50161ccd1d58069150000/julian-assange.jpg" border="0" alt="julian assange" />Julian Assange </strong>is not very impressed with the international coverage provided by <em>The New York Times</em>, and he is not afraid to <a href="http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2011/04/julian_assange_bill_keller_uc_berkeley.php" target="_blank">voice his opinion</a> to the man in charge (and the rest of the world) as reported by <em>SF Weekly</em>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Wikileaks founder appeared (via Skype) with <strong>Bill Keller </strong>at U.C. Berkeley in the Reva and David Logan Investigative Reporting Symposium moderated by Slate's <strong>Jack Shafer</strong>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Assange -- perhaps upset by the comments the <em>NYT</em> executive editor made in a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/magazine/30Wikileaks-t.html" target="_blank">takedown/explanation</a> of the publication's collaboration with Wikileaks -- said he thought the Paper of Record needed to do more when it comes to covering international events. (Keller, for his part, defended the "bag lady" description of his collaborator-turned-adversary as "color" that was detailed to him by another reporter.)</p>
<p>"I say that 40 people covering the entire world in <em>The </em><em>New York Times</em>, which is the opinion leader of the United States, is a state of desperation," the Australian explained after Keller defended the size of the <em>NYT</em>'s overseas reporting team.</p>
<p>Assange -- either truth-teller or scorned, would-be hero, take your pick -- also had some choice words about the <em>Times</em>' close relationship with the Pentagon.</p>
<p>"I'm sure you will see Bill Keller boast that they were hand in glove with the Pentagon," he said. "But news organizations should be careful to understand their role. Their role is to hold powerful organizations into account. It is not to cover up."</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/julian-assange-bill-keller-new-york-times-wikileaks-2011-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-nyt-keller-boobs-2011-4Arianna Advises The NYT Magazine To Stop Clicking On Boobshttp://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-nyt-keller-boobs-2011-4
Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:19:00 -0400Glynnis MacNicol
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4d96166049e2ae442f4e0000/huffpo-boobs.png" border="0" alt="huffpo boobs" /></p><p>The squabble of words between <strong>Arianna Huffington</strong> and <strong>Bill Keller</strong> doesn't look to be dying down anytime soon</p>
<p>This morning Arianna posted a April Fool's piece poking fun at the NYT new paywall, and this weekend the NYT magazine is running <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/magazine/mag-03talk-t.html?_r=1">a surprisingly contentious</a> Q&amp;A they did with her.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Suffice to say, there is no love lost.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Interestingly, <a href="http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/romenesko/126202/why-did-huffington-talk-to-new-york-times-magazine/">Romenesko notes</a> the NYT Mag piece was conducted in early March a few days before Keller's now-infamous column on why HuffPo is evil and was followed up on after it was published.&nbsp;</p>
<p>That said, judging by the tone of Andrew Goldman's questions, it's clear Keller's views are held by others at the paper of record.&nbsp;</p>
<p>What's less clear is how the NYT comes out of any of this looking good, or more to the point, not looking idiotic.&nbsp; First rule of media fight club is you only punch up, something Arianna is quite well-versed in.</p>
<p>The NYT, meanwhile, continues to come across as some foot-stomping, spoiled child who's just been forced out into the real world and <em>doesn't like it one bit</em>.&nbsp; One imagines if they keep this sort of attitude up they will likely find themselves so far down they'll be lucky to get a view of Arianna's foot.</p>
<p>Here's the best part of the Q&amp;A.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/magazine/mag-03talk-t.html?_r=1">You can read the rest here &gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>I look at your writers much less than I find myself clicking on stuff that&rsquo;s been aggregated or the more salacious, boob-related posts. </strong> <br />That&rsquo;s really a shame. I think you&rsquo;re missing out. Jason Linkins is doing some of the best media writing. Amanda Terkel&rsquo;s coverage of Afghanistan has been ahead of the curve. Shahien Nasiripour has been breaking news constantly on Wall Street reform. Maybe you should be reading more of that and clicking less on the boobs.</p>
<p><strong>You have been engaged in a public tiff with Bill Keller, the editor of this paper, as a result of the things <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/magazine/mag-13lede-t.html">he wrote</a> a few weeks ago in the magazine. He compared your business model to Somali piracy. </strong> <br />What is amazing is that he did not provide a single piece of evidence. I mean, accusing us of theft and piracy is a pretty strong accusation. So if you&rsquo;re going to accuse the Huffington Post Media Group of theft and piracy and you&rsquo;re following Journalism 101 ground rules, you provide some evidence.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-nyt-keller-boobs-2011-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/ge-taxes-2010WHO'S FULL OF CRAP? GE, The New York Times, And The Hazards Of "Tweeting The Record Straight"http://www.businessinsider.com/ge-taxes-2010
Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:29:00 -0400Henry Blodget
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4a8420a26366021b3fbdaae7/jeff-immelt-headshotjpg.jpg" border="0" alt="jeff-immelt-headshot.jpg" /></p><p>We spent much of this afternoon sparring with GE's public affairs division on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/twitter" class="hidden_link">Twitter</a> over a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/new-york-times" class="hidden_link">New York Times</a> report that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/ge" class="hidden_link">GE</a> paid no US taxes last year.</p>
<p>GE had taken to Twitter to blast the New York Times for "misleading" everyone about this fact.</p>
<p>So, naturally, when we saw that GE was trying to set the record straight, we asked some specific questions of GE--because we wanted to determine whether the New York Times was wrong or whether GE was just trying to spin everyone.</p>
<p>Either was fine with us, by the way -- especially after New York Times editor Bill Keller's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/magazine/mag-27lede-t.html?scp=2&amp;sq=bill%20keller&amp;st=cse">latest lecture this weekend</a> about why the New York Times is great and everyone else sucks.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4b5730100000000000d3d845/bill-keller.jpg" border="0" alt="Bill Keller" />Bill Keller's message in his latest lecture was "We believe in verification rather than assertion."</p>
<p>So when we got a tweet from GE <a href="http://twitter.com/GEpublicaffairs">public affairs</a> this morning telling us to stop repeating the NYT's "misleading attack" that GE paid no US taxes in 2010, we naturally wanted to find out whether Bill Keller was full of it.</p>
<p>We had, after all, gotten that "misleading attack" directly from a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?_r=3&amp;hp">New York Times story from last Friday about how little tax GE pays</a>.</p>
<p>The third paragraph of that story said the following:</p>
<p><strong>"[GE's] American tax bill? None."</strong></p>
<p>That sentence couldn't have been clearer. So we were surprised to get these tweets from GE this morning:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">@<a href="http://twitter.com/BusinessInsider" class="tweet-url username">BusinessInsider</a> - Stop the misleading attacks. No Taxes?? GE paid $2.7 billion in cash taxes alone in 2010. <a href="http://bit.ly/goMKB9" target="_blank" class="tweet-url web">http://bit.ly/goMKB9</a></span></span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">@<a href="http://twitter.com/hblodget" class="tweet-url username">hblodget</a> Consolidated tax rate last few yrs is lower than historical avg &amp; statutory rate, but @<a href="http://twitter.com/NYTimes" class="tweet-url username">NYTimes</a> grossly oversimplified the facts</span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">We asked GE whether the New York Times had, in fact, "grossly oversimplified the facts" or had just gotten them wrong.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">GE temporarily went silent.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">So we asked again.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">And again.<br /></span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">Eventually, GE piped up, with a non-answer. And so, for the next half-hour, we kept asking GE ever narrower and more precise questions to try to make sure they weren't just spinning us (which initially they appeared to be doing). One of the theories that emerged, for example, was that </span></span></span>the New York Times had been referring to "federal income tax," while GE's Public Affairs department had been pointing to global taxes, taxes paid in dollars, payroll taxes, state taxes, local taxes, and other taxes, rather than federal income tax.</p>
<p>For a while, we assumed that that's what GE was doing--spinning to cover up the fact that it had paid no federal income taxes by pointing out that it had paid payroll taxes, state taxes, and so forth.<span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> </span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">But then GE finally tweeted the following:</span></span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">GE paid significant U.S. fed income tax in 2010, along w/ $1B+ in payroll, state &amp; local</span></span></span></em></p>
<p>Now, that statement, you will presumably agree, seems entirely inconsistent with the sentence in the New York Times article that said GE's US tax bill was "none."</p>
<p>In which case, the New York Times story is wrong, and Bill Keller has a correction to issue.</p>
<p>But having spent the last half-hour trying to get a straight answer out of GE, another thought occurred to us. What if the NYT story wasn't wrong?</p>
<p>What if what GE's wordsmiths had been so clever in their spinning that what they actually meant was that GE "paid" US income taxes that were later refunded by the US government, the same way most Americans "pay" taxes with each paycheck and then get a refund at the end of the year? (Which obviously is not what everyone thinks that sentence means.)</p>
<p>Or what if what GE's clever wording meant that GE <em>executives</em> had paid federal income tax?</p>
<p>In those cases, @GEpublicaffairs folks would be guilty of the most insidious kind of spin: The kind that looks as though it's straight-up truth from a party that has been wronged but is actually a bunch of crap.</p>
<p>So we asked @GEpublicaffairs very simple questions about those "significant federal income taxes" that GE says it paid in 2010.</p>
<p>And @GEpublicaffairs went silent again.</p>
<p>And stayed silent.</p>
<p>For the rest of the afternoon.</p>
<p>So eventually, we had to conclude that @GEpublicaffairs had probably just been shamelessly spinning, that GE had paid no federal income taxes (net), and that that we had busted them on it. So GE's public affairs folks had had no choice but to disappear.</p>
<p>And let this be a lesson to you, corporations who view Twitter as a fantastic tool for spinning, once you assert something on Twitter and then go silent when you are asked simple questions about it, the folks you're trying to snow are going to conclude that you're just trying to spin them. And they're not going to like it.</p>
<p>But one thing also appears to be true in this whole affair:<span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> GE did, in fact, pay <em>a lot of taxes in the US last year</em>, so the New York Times story that said GE's total US tax bill was "none" seems to have been, at best, highly misleading, and more likely flat-out wrong.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">So now we also have a question for Bill Keller:</span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">Are you going to issue a correction? </span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">While we await answers, you be the judge...</span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"><strong>UPDATE: </strong>Thanks to GE spokesman Anne Eisele's detailed response in the comments below, we now have what appear to be our answers: GE was, in fact, "spinning" when it said it "paid significant federal income tax in 2010." AND the New York Times was flat-out wrong. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">GE was spinning because the taxes paid were just payments on a tax bill that has yet to be calculated--similar to the withholdings that individuals have taken out of their paychecks that are often followed by an end-of year refund. And the New York Times was wrong because, even leaving aside the income tax issue, there is simply no way that GE's US tax bill in 2010 can be fairly described as being "none." GE paid many different kinds of US taxes in 2010--state, local, payroll, etc.--and, according to Eisele, its 2010 income tax bill (which still has yet to be determined) is likely to be positive.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">So is it fair to say that GE does everything in its power to pay as little taxes as possible and does a very good job of paying a shockingly small amount relative to its huge profits? Yes. But it is not fair to say that GE's 2010 US tax bill was "none."</span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"><strong>UPDATE 2: </strong>Wow, just when we thought it was over... The NYT may be off the hook, at least on the "federal income tax" assertion. No sooner had we published our conclusion that the NYT's statement was "flat-out wrong" than the NYT came right back and said there wasn't a single factual inaccuracy in its article, which was why GE hadn't asked for a correction. And, more importantly, the NYT sent us an AFP article in which GE spokesperson Anne Eisele--the same spokesperson who wrote the comment below--said the following: </span></span></span><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iKsuJGAIixQeosmxOctEB-0bhW3g?docId=CNG.34a222e35c6a2e98d03744cee3b43b05.1b1">"GE did not pay US federal taxes last year because we did not owe any."</a></p>
<p>Now, that's very different from what Anne told us (see comment below, in which Anne says GE paid US federal taxes and owes them). And it supports the New York Times's position that GE's tax bill was "none." And it suggests that GE is still trying to find a way, any way, to talk its way out of this, even if that means giving out false information. (And it also undermines GE's legitimate gripe that "American tax bill"--the NYT's phrasing--should include things like local, state, and payroll taxes).</p>
<p>We have asked Anne and GE, once again, to explain themselves. They're working on getting us a response...</p><h3>Here's how it started. We were minding our own business, when suddenly we got this Tweet from @GEpublic affairs</h3>
<p><p><strong>FROM: <a href="http://twitter.com/GEpublicaffairs">@GEpublicaffairs</a></strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">@<a href="http://twitter.com/BusinessInsider" class="tweet-url username">BusinessInsider</a> - Stop the misleading attacks. No Taxes?? GE paid $2.7 billion in cash taxes alone in 2010. <a href="http://bit.ly/goMKB9" target="_blank" class="tweet-url web">http://bit.ly/goMKB9</a></span></span></span></p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>This was followed quickly by another Tweet from GE</h3>
<p><p><strong>FROM: <a href="http://twitter.com/GEpublicaffairs">@GEpublicaffairs</a></strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">@<a href="http://twitter.com/hblodget" class="tweet-url username">hblodget</a> Consolidated tax rate last few yrs is lower than historical avg &amp; statutory rate, but @<a href="http://twitter.com/NYTimes" class="tweet-url username">NYTimes</a> grossly oversimplified the facts</span></span></span></p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>Well, naturally, we couldn't let that one go without a follow-up question or two. After all, we'd written a whole post on Friday about how we (Business Insider) had paid more US taxes last year than GE</h3>
<p><p><strong>FROM: <a href="http://twitter.com/hblodget">@hblodget</a></strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">@<a href="http://twitter.com/GEpublicaffairs" class="tweet-url username">GEpublicaffairs</a> NYT oversimplified? Or just got it wrong. They said "no taxes"</span></span></span></p></p>
<br/><br/><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ge-taxes-2010#there-was-no-immediate-response-so-we-followed-up-4">See the rest of the story at Business Insider</a> http://www.businessinsider.com/nyt-paywall-limit-2011-3Here's How To Check The Number Of NYT Stories You've Read This Monthhttp://www.businessinsider.com/nyt-paywall-limit-2011-3
Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:19:48 -0400Noah Davis
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4d8232364bd7c8272a030000-401-229/new-york-times-paywall.png" border="0" alt="new york times paywall" width="401" height="229" /></p><p>The New York Times <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nyt-metered-paywall-2011-3" target="_blank">is launching</a> its metered paywall, and the plan allows users to read 20 articles for free every month.</p>
<p>But how close are you to that number?</p>
<p>Figuring it out is simple.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Every individual user's recommendation page shows the total number of articles read that month, broken down by section. (It also suggests stories that might be of interest based on your past choices.)</p>
<p>Click here for yourself:<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/recommendations" target="_blank"> http://www.nytimes.com/recommendations</a></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nyt-paywall-limit-2011-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/gore-vidal-huffington-post-new-york-times-2011-3Gore Vidal: NOT To Be Mentioned In The NYT Is A Point Of Honorhttp://www.businessinsider.com/gore-vidal-huffington-post-new-york-times-2011-3
Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:50:00 -0400Noah Davis
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4d7fa20eccd1d5762b010000/gore-vidal.jpg" border="0" alt="gore vidal" /></p><p></p>
<p><em>Details</em> scored <a href="http://www.details.com/celebrities-entertainment/music-and-books/201103/gore-vidal-writer-pulp-fiction?currentPage=1" target="_blank">an interview</a> with Gore Vidal that's gaining traction... because of a spate between <strong>Arianna Huffington</strong> and <strong>Bill Keller</strong>.</p>
<p>The Huffington Post, which is engaged in a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-huffington-post-bill-keller2011-3" target="_blank">tit a tat</a> with <em>The New York Times</em>, didn't waste any time <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/gore-vidal-mocks-new-york_n_835674.html" target="_blank">excerpting</a> some of the choice phrases Vidal's used when discussing the Paper of Record's reaction to his third book, <em>The City and the Pillar</em>.</p>
<p>"<em>The New York Times</em> was always hysterical about sex of any kind, and Orville Prescott, then the principal book reviewer, said that under no circumstances would any book written by Gore Vidal be reviewed there again. Ever ...not to be mentioned in <em>The New York Times</em> is, I have always thought, a point of honor. So I survived and I notice that <em>The New York Times</em> did not. They can't get any advertising, and I chuckle over that as much as possible."</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the HuffPo missed Vidal's best shot at the Gray Lady.</p>
<p>"Well, you see I'm something -- it's a grown-up word I am going to use, so I hope your readers will understand me -- I'm a critic. And they have never seen a critic before. All you're supposed to do is praise your little group, whoever they may be. You're allowed to do that up to a point, but don't overdo it, you know. Otherwise, you'll sound like the <em>New York Times</em> looking after its own. You have to be careful."</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gore-vidal-huffington-post-new-york-times-2011-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-nyt-aol-keller-2011-3Arianna Has Poached 11 More Writers, Including A Former NYT Culture Editorhttp://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-nyt-aol-keller-2011-3
Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:03:00 -0400Glynnis MacNicol
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4d7a40eecadcbb7820020000/tim-arianna.jpg" border="0" alt="tim arianna" /></p><p>The Huffington Post Media Group hiring spree continues.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The company sent out a release today [below] announcing 11 new hires including former NYT editor John Montorio.</p>
<p>Other hires include: Jennifer Bendery has been named White House Correspondent; Caroline Dworin has been named Culture/Style Reporter; Dave Jamieson has been named Workplace Reporter; Saki Knafo has been named General Assignment Writer; Simone Landon has been named News Editor; and Catherine New, Real Estate Editor.</p>
<p>And on the politics side, now that&nbsp; Politics Daily is being folded into The Huffington Post Media Group, Andrea Stone, Alex Wagner and David Wood are joining as Senior National Correspondent, Social Impact Reporter and Military Defense Correspondent, respectively.</p>
<p>Short version: Arianna is not fooling around and has every intention of turning the new Aol into a journalism operation as much as a power aggregator.</p>
<p>TechCruch<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/13/john-montorio-joins-huffington-post/"> notes</a> that Montorio's hire especially "represents a dramatic shift in favour of real journalism within Aol.</p>
<p>Full memo below.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">The Huffington Post Media Group Makes Key Announcements:</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone Joins The Huffington Post Media Group </span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">And </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> as Strategic Adviser For Social Impact;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Veteran Journalist John Montorio Joins as Culture and Entertainment Editor, </span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">With An Additional Ten New Hires Joining Expanding Reporting Team;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Howard Fineman Named Editorial Director of The Huffington Post Media Group;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Patch.com Expands To Two Underserved Communities in </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Newark</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">NJ</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">The Huffington Post and </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> Reveal First Round of Integration Features;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&ldquo;30-Day Service Challenge&rdquo; To Encourage Employees To Volunteer Launches Today, With All Sections of The Huffington Post Prominently </span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Highlighting Individuals and Nonprofits Assisting Those In Need</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">New York, NY &ndash; March 14, 2011 &ndash; </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, Inc.&rsquo;s (NYSE:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">) The Huffington Post Media Group, a leading source of news, opinion, entertainment, community and digital information, today makes several key announcements: (1) Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, is joining The Huffington Post Media Group and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> as Strategic Adviser for Social Impact to enhance innovation around social impact and cause-based initiatives; (2) veteran journalist John Montorio joins as Culture and Entertainment Editor, with an additional ten new hires coming aboard an expanding Huffington Post Media Group reporting team; (3) Howard Fineman is named Editorial Director of The Huffington Post Media Group; (4) in partnership with Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Patch.com, the hyper-local news and information platform, expands to two new neighborhoods in the city; and (5) a &ldquo;30-Day Service Challenge&rdquo; to encourage employees to volunteer launches today, with all sections of The Huffington Post prominently featuring the work of individuals and nonprofits helping the needy.<span>&nbsp; </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Arianna Huffington, President and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, and Tim Armstrong, CEO of </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, made the announcement.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m delighted to announce eleven new journalists joining our expanding editorial and reporting teams, along with the six we announced last week,&rdquo; said Arianna Huffington.<span>&nbsp; </span>&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t be more pleased to welcome John Montorio, one of the industry&rsquo;s most respected editors, as our Culture and Entertainment Editor.<span>&nbsp; </span>Since one of our key goals is to explore and spotlight innovative ways that our company &ndash; as well as others &ndash; can do good, I&rsquo;m thrilled that Biz Stone will be our strategic partner in this important endeavor.<span>&nbsp; </span>A focus on service is central to our </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">DNA</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, so our 30-Day Service Challenge for employees will be matched by site-wide HuffPost coverage of people and organizations that are giving back.<span>&nbsp; </span>And as we are taking steps to expand and deepen our local coverage, I want to thank Mayor Cory Booker for his enthusiastic support of Patch&rsquo;s latest two neighborhood news sites in </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Newark</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">.&rdquo; </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Said Tim Armstrong, CEO of </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, &ldquo;The scope of The Huffington Post Media Group&rsquo;s new initiatives &ndash; from seventeen impressive new journalism hires in just over a week and an expansion of Patch into Newark to a month-long volunteer challenge for all </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> employees -- demonstrates our companies&rsquo; combined eagerness to hit the ground running following the rapidly-executed merger.<span>&nbsp; </span>I&rsquo;m especially thrilled that Biz Stone will be helping us to refine one of our core goals: using innovative approaches to do good and give back while putting a spotlight on solutions.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Strategic Adviser For Social Impact</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, is joining The Huffington Post Media Group and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> as Strategic Impact Adviser.<span>&nbsp; </span>Said Mr. Stone: "The definition of success is changing as we begin to understand the value of helping others.<span>&nbsp; </span>Arianna and Tim share my vision for aligning corporate resources toward meaningful change," said Biz Stone. &ldquo;My goal in partnering with </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> and The Huffington Post Media Group is ambitious but vitally important. Together we will rally companies to think about new ways of doing business, share best practices, and strive for positive impact at all levels -- from global to local."<span>&nbsp; </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Mr. Stone will a</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">dvise on social impact and cause-based initiatives, develop a platform to facilitate people doing service in their communities, rally other companies to invest in and deploy best corporate practices, and create and develop a video series spotlighting leading companies and executives at the forefront of philanthropy and corporate responsibility.<span>&nbsp; </span><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Growing Reporting Team Across Sections</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><br /></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">John Montorio, a veteran journalist and media executive with more than 30 years of experience reporting, writing, editing and managing news staffs, <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/13/john-montorio-joins-huffington-post/" target="_blank">joins as Culture and Entertainment Editor</a>.<span>&nbsp; </span>"I have had the rare opportunity to contribute creatively to two of the country's top-tier newspapers -- The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.<span>&nbsp; </span>Now I have the incredible&nbsp;good fortune&nbsp;to play a similar role at one of the country's premier online news sources.<span>&nbsp; </span>It's a chance to help build a great 21st Century news organization.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Montorio served as a Managing Editor of the Los Angeles Times and as an Associate Managing Editor of The New York Times.<span>&nbsp; </span>At both papers he was responsible for features coverage. During his seven years at the Los Angeles Times, he helped to overhaul the Calendar sections, the Book Review, the Sunday Magazine, Travel, Food, Home, and Health, and launched Outdoors, and Image, a fashion and style section.<span>&nbsp; </span>He also was responsible for a variety of special news projects, including the development of more profiles in the main news sections and improved coverage of trends.<span>&nbsp; </span>Before joining the LA Times in 2001, he spent 15 years at The New York Times, where he relaunched many of the paper's signature feature sections, including House &amp; Home, Dining In/Dining Out and Sunday Styles, and launched The City section for metro and The Living Arts in the National Editions. <br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">The Huffington Post Media Group&rsquo;s reporting team is also expanding to include an additional ten new hires: Jennifer Bendery has been named White House Correspondent; Caroline Dworin has been named Culture/Style Reporter; Dave Jamieson has been named Workplace Reporter; Saki Knafo has been named General Assignment Writer; Simone Landon has been named News Editor; and Catherine New, Real Estate Editor.<span>&nbsp; </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Jennifer Bendery has been covering the White House as well as the House and Senate Leadership for Roll Call for three years.<span>&nbsp; </span>She reported for four years on the Texas State Legislature for GalleryWatch in </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Austin</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Texas</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, and&nbsp;covered health care policy for a number of national weekly newsletters.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Caroline Dworin was a regular contributor to the City section of <em>The New York Times</em>, and appeared in the anthology "More New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of The New York Times."<span>&nbsp; </span>She has written for <em>The New Yorker's</em> "Book Bench" blog, for Newsweek.com, and for the Columbia Journalism Review.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Dave Jamieson comes from the D.C. news site TBD.com, where he covered transportation issues.<span>&nbsp; </span>Before that he authored a non-fiction book, Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession, and wrote Slate, The New Republic, The Washington Post, Outside, and the Washington City Paper.<span>&nbsp; </span>His work has won the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and the Hillman Foundation&rsquo;s Sidney Award. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Saki Knafo has written for The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, the Believer, GQ, and Publishers Weekly.<span>&nbsp; </span>His work has appeared in two anthologies, "Lost and Found: Stories from </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">New York</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> (Mr. Beller's Neighborhood)"and "New York Stories: Best of the City Section."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Simone Landon was a producer of Morning Edition for Rhode Island Public Radio.<span>&nbsp; </span>She covered immigrant workers for Labor Notes magazine and daily news for Detroit Public Radio.<span>&nbsp; </span>At The Detroit Metro Times, she wrote on arts and music as well as urban education.<span>&nbsp; </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Catherine New has nearly 10 years of editorial and newsroom experience, with her writing and graphics having been published by the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, Associated Press,&nbsp;Metro Newspaper, Flavorpill.com,&nbsp;Men&rsquo;s Vogue&nbsp;and&nbsp;Psychology Today.<span>&nbsp; </span>In 2004, she was on the team that launched Metro Newspaper in </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">New York City</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, oversaw the development of the features sections, and authored the popular weekly real estate column, "At Home With..." </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">As for our Jefferson young journalists, <span>Katherine Bindley graduated from Georgetown University and was a regular contributor to The New York Times City section, and joins as Culture/Style Reporter; Laura Gottesdiener graduated from Yale and was a staff writer for The Brooklyn Paper, and joins as Lifestyle Reporter; Joy Resmovits graduated from Barnard and has been at the Forward since 2010, and joins as Education Reporter; and Laura Stampler graduated from Stanford University and has written for The New Republic, The Nation, The Miami Herald, and joins as Lifestyle Reporter.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">In addition, as Politics Daily is being folded into The Huffington Post Media Group, Andrea Stone, Alex Wagner and David Wood are joining as Senior National Correspondent, Social Impact Reporter and Military Defense Correspondent, respectively.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Andrea Stone was Senior Washington Correspondent at </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> News.<span>&nbsp; </span>Before joining </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> in September 2009, she spent nearly 24 years at USA Today.<span>&nbsp; </span>A veteran national correspondent, Stone has covered politics, Congress, the military, foreign affairs and all manner of general news. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Alex Wagner was most recently White House Correspondent for Politics Daily.<span>&nbsp; </span>She was previously Editor-in-Chief of Fader Magazine, and is a frequent contributor to MSNBC.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">David Wood has 30 years of experience covering conflict and has filed dispatches from dozens of battlefields.<span>&nbsp; </span>He has served as correspondent for Time Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Newhouse News Service and the Baltimore Sun.<span>&nbsp; </span>Wood has won the Gerald Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense, and in 2008 won the Headliners Club award for his reporting on </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Iraq</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Fineman Named Editorial Director</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">In addition to new hires, Howard Fineman has been named to the larger role of Editorial Director of The Huffington Post Media Group.<span>&nbsp; </span>Fineman, a longtime political correspondent, had previously served as senior political editor of The Huffington Post.<span>&nbsp; </span>In this new role, Fineman will help shape The Huffington Post Media Group&rsquo;s overall coverage, and work to integrate </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> news and information brands.<span>&nbsp; </span>He will also guide The Huffington Post's upcoming presidential campaign coverage.<span>&nbsp; </span><span>Howard Fineman will continue to report for The Huffington Post, and will continue his role as an analyst for NBC and MSNBC.<span>&nbsp; </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Patch.com Expands To Two Underserved Communities In </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Newark</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">NJ</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">In partnership with Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Patch.com, the community news and information platform, expands to two underserved urban locations in </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Newark</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">New Jersey</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&ldquo;Bringing Patch to </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Newark</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> is an exciting next step in informing, engaging, and inspiring our community with the news and information they need every day,&rdquo; said Mayor Booker.<span>&nbsp; </span>&ldquo;I'm thrilled to welcome Patch to our neighborhoods and I'm certain the sites will be a terrific asset for everyone who lives, works, volunteers, and raises families here.<span>&nbsp; </span>Information helps build communities, and bringing Patch to </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Newark</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> will be a great thing for our city."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Said Warren Webster, President of Patch, "Patch has invested heavily in </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">New Jersey</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> -- in fact, it was where we launched our first three sites in 2009.<span>&nbsp; </span>We are very excited to work closely with Mayor Booker to bring neighborhood journalism, information and social interactivity to one of </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">America</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">'s great cities."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">The Huffington Post and </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> Reveal First Round of Integrated User Features </span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Following an intensive coordinated effort by both HuffPost and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> tech teams after the close of the merger, The Huffington Post and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> sites go live today with the first phase of user feature integration.<span>&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">.com will highlight a &ldquo;Most Popular Articles&rdquo; widget, with the most popular articles and blog posts from HuffPost and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">; similarly, HuffPost&rsquo;s &ldquo;Most Popular&rdquo; widget will feature articles from </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">.com and HuffPost.<span>&nbsp; </span>The Huffington Post will be Devil-enabled, and a Project Devil ad will be seen on the site today.<span>&nbsp; </span>In addition, HuffPost&nbsp;will feature hyper-local content from Patch.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">A Focus On &lsquo;Giving Back&rsquo;</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">As part of its commitment to &ldquo;giving back,&rdquo; The Huffington Post Media Group and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> are announcing a &ldquo;<a href="http://30dayservicechallenge.com/" target="_blank">30-Day Service Challenge</a>&rdquo; to encourage employees to volunteer in their communities, with staffers beginning to volunteer starting today.<span>&nbsp; </span>Employees of The Huffington Post Media Group and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> will be helping throughout their local communities, from preparing food for families and individuals in need at the LA Food Bank to dancing with elderly residents of nursing homes in New York City, a volunteering opportunity offered by New York Cares, New York City&rsquo;s largest volunteer organization and </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&rsquo;s New York partner for the initiative.<span>&nbsp; </span>The 30-Day Service Challenge is a lead-up to </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&rsquo;s &ldquo;Monster Help Day&rdquo; on May 20<sup>th</sup>, the company&rsquo;s second annual employee-wide focused day of service. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a name="12eb4415bdb44e3e__GoBack"></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Arianna Huffington and Tim Armstrong will today be teaching a class to </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">New York City</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> school children at Urban Academy of Arts and Letters in </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Brooklyn</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, as part of a Citizen Schools program encouraging professionals to team up with public schools to create an enhanced learning community after the school day ends.&nbsp; </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">AOL</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> will also be donating $50,000 to Citizen Schools to help the organization expand its efforts in providing productive after-school activities for middle-school children in underserved communities.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">In addition to employee-wide &ldquo;giving back,&rdquo; all sections of The Huffington Post will today cover and prominently feature the stories of needy families and individuals, as well as individuals and nonprofits working at the local level to address those needs.<span>&nbsp; </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Here is a sample of what will be featured: HuffPost Business will put a spotlight on </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Imran Farooq, a 26 year-old </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">USC</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"> graduate student who has developed a promising model for how neighborhoods can work together to resist foreclosures and stop plummeting property values.<span>&nbsp; </span>HuffPost Living will cover Street Yoga, of </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Portland</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Oregon</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">, following mounting scientific evidence that by providing a sense or order and balance, the practice of yoga can help those suffering from trauma, abuse and addiction.<span>&nbsp; </span>HuffPost Health will be highlighting the Nurse-Family Partnership, which provides support for low-income first-time mothers to promote preventive health practices like good nutrition and avoiding substance abuse -- as well as working toward economic self-sufficiency.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-nyt-aol-keller-2011-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/winners-and-losers-top-ten-2011-3Here Are This Week's Top 10 Winners And Losers In Media http://www.businessinsider.com/winners-and-losers-top-ten-2011-3
Sat, 12 Mar 2011 11:04:00 -0500Joseph Alexiou
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4d7a9bad49e2ae197b380000/james-okeefe.jpg" border="0" alt="James O'Keefe" /></p><p>This past week, much like every week, has been rife with stupid commentary and opinion-spouting.</p>
<p>Fear not, it was also accompanied by some bold moves and funny comments from journalists, politicians, muckrakers, and other taste-influencing media types.</p>
<p>As is always the case, some stood out as truly exceptional, or truly laughable, or truly successful in their goal (whether or not you happened to like or approve of said goal.)</p>
<p>Here is a look at the best and the worst of the week that was.</p><h3>LOSER: Newt Gingrich On the Christian Broadcasting Network</h3>
<img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4d77c7a0ccd1d50429050000-400-300/loser-newt-gingrich-on-the-christian-broadcasting-network.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p>During an <a href="http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2011/03/08/newt-gingrich-tells-brody-file-he-felt-compelled-to-seek.aspx">interview with CBN's David Brody</a>, Gingrich made an furiously stupid statement suggesting that his patriotism drove him to cheat on his wife.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Newt: There's no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate."</p>
<p>Check out the video clip below</p>
<p><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="348" src="http://downloads.cbn.com/cbnnewsplayer/cbnPlayer.swf?aid=21624" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>LOSER: Mike Huckabee on Sirius Radio, Again</h3>
<img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4d6ec2faccd1d58b02010000-400-300/loser-mike-huckabee-on-sirius-radio-again.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p>As if he didn't learn to shut him mouth after multiple rounds of stupidity (first about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-oreilly-mike-huckabee-obama-kenya-madrassa-2011-3">Obama growing up</a> in Kenya, the second that Natalie Portman should be ashamed to appear pregnant and that it's sad the nation glorifies "out of children wedlock[sic]").</p>
<p>Well, this week he defended himself, sputtering along in another interview&nbsp; on Sirius XM's P.O.T.U.S. channel. This time he <a href=" http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/50883.html">blamed his host</a> and interviewer, <strong>Michael Medved</strong>, for bringing Portman up in conversation after referencing the actress' recent Oscar acceptance speech:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"So in the course of that, he asked me about her acceptance speech. I used that as a segue, not to talk about Natalie Portman, but to talk about the economic realities of unwed mothers."</p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>LOSER: Peter King...his McCarthy-like hearings on Muslims featured pictures of 9/11 on the walls.</h3>
<img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4d7a8c2d4bd7c83b2d010000-400-300/loser-peter-kinghis-mccarthy-like-hearings-on-muslims-featured-pictures-of-911-on-the-walls.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p>After a media explosion and nationwide criticism over Representative <strong>Peter King</strong>'s hearings &mdash; which have been compared to McCarthyist witch trials &mdash; the congressman <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rep-peter-king-scolds-the-media-for-mindless-hysteria-leading-up-to-muslim-hearings/">told everyone</a> they're making a big fuss over nothing (emphasis mine):</p>
<p>&ldquo;I would hope, now that this hearing is over, that the media in particular would look back and reflect upon the <em>mindless hysteria</em> that occurred over the last two or three weeks"</p>
<p>Right &mdash; the thousands of angry people feel the way they do because of mindlessness. What a great representative Long Island has to boast about.</p>
<p>The mindlessness continued: "And not in the future rely so much on what opponents, such as CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations] and others, who do not want these type hearings, say. Again I think the hysteria and madness leading up to this hearing did nobody much good and certainly didn&rsquo;t reflect well on those reporting it.&rdquo;</p></p>
<br/><br/><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/winners-and-losers-top-ten-2011-3#loser-nyt-editor-bill-keller-pens-a-column-of-media-rage-straight-from-2007-and-points-it-at-arianna-4">See the rest of the story at Business Insider</a> http://www.businessinsider.com/huffington-ny-times-editors-attack-is-lame-and-laughable-2011-3Huffington: NY Times Editor's Attack Is "Lame" And "Laughable"http://www.businessinsider.com/huffington-ny-times-editors-attack-is-lame-and-laughable-2011-3
Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:41:00 -0500Matt Rosoff
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4d5154d4ccd1d51a1f1e0000/arianna-huffington.jpg" border="0" alt="Arianna Huffington" /></p><p>Arianna Huffington has posted <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/bill-keller-accuses-me-of_b_834289.html">her response</a> to New York Times Editor Bill Keller's attack on her and the business of news aggregation <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-arianna-huffington-plagerism-2011-3">earlier today</a>, and it's a knockout.</p>
<p>After making all the obvious arguments -- the Huffington Post had 148 full-time journalists on staff before being bought by AOL, its journalism has won awards and been praised by Paul Krugman and many other Times staffers -- Huffington addresses Keller's worst claim: that she stole one of his talking points from a panel they were on and repeated it verbatim on a radio show a few minutes later.</p>
<p>The fun part: Huffington did some actual <em>journalism</em> to prepare her response, digging up transcripts of both Keller's remarks on the panel and her remarks on the radio show.</p>
<p>Here's what he said on the panel in April 2010:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">But what I think will happen, and you can already start to see it, is there's a little bit of a convergence going on. We've talked a lot about how some of the mainstream organizations we represent are adapting the tools and more important, the kind of culture and psychology, of a more open media world. I think it's also true that a lot of the alternatives -- the startups -- are beginning to see the need for discipline, resources, standards.</p>
<p>And here's what she said a few minutes later:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Well, I think there is a convergence happening. There was a big debate over the last few years about whether the newspapers will survive, whether the future is going to be only online. And I think we are realizing now, increasingly, that online, purely online news operations like The Huffington Post are more and more adopting the most traditional, basic tenets of journalism. Accuracy, fairness, fact-checking, reporters, more and more editors, and mainstream traditional operations like the <em>New York Times</em> or NPR are adopting more and more of the digital tools that can bring in the community to make it part of the creation of journalism, through citizen journalism, through reports from the ground, through video, through Twitter feeds, through all the new media available to us.</p>
<p>First of all, apart from the use of the word "convergence," the two statements don't have that much in common. They're both pretty general statements of the future that most media commenters now agree on.</p>
<p>More damningly, Huffington had been saying the same thing -- and using the word "convergence" -- for years. Here's what she said in May 2008:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I think that what we are seeing is a kind of <em>convergence</em> of the mainstream media doing more and more online, and those of us in online media and the blogosphere doing more and more reporting, along with citizen-journalism projects.</p>
<p>And in November 2008:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">There's this real convergence, where basically you found that the best and most accurate rose to the top, whether it originated from <em>Time</em> magazine or from Nate Silver's fivethirtyeight.com, which did not exist before the election.</p>
<p>And in January 2010:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">And then we can have a hybrid future where there is a convergence between old media and new media. It's not an either/or world.</p>
<p>So who's aggregating whom?</p>
<p>It's Keller's move next.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/huffington-ny-times-editors-attack-is-lame-and-laughable-2011-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/greta-van-susteren-fox-critics-dont-watch-enough-fox-2011-3GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Fox Critics Don't Watch Enough Foxhttp://www.businessinsider.com/greta-van-susteren-fox-critics-dont-watch-enough-fox-2011-3
Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:25:00 -0500Noah Davis
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4b1ecc3b0000000000f7ab94/greta-van-susteren.jpg" border="0" alt="Greta Van Susteren" /></p><p>Greta Van Susteren is sick and tired of people attacking Fox News without mentioning any of the "good work we do." The host <a href="http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/you-have-to-admit-this-is-sort-of-weird/" target="_blank">takes to her blog </a>to discuss all the important journalism she and her colleagues do.</p>
<p>"The critics are fixated - yes fixated - on one hour out of 24 (and sometimes two hours out of 24.) Would you not think they would want to look comprehensive and not simply obsessed?"</p>
<p>Van Susteren cites the reporting of <strong>Jonathan Hunt</strong> in Libya, <strong>Mike Tobin</strong> in Madison, and <strong>Greg Palkot</strong> for getting "beaten to a pulp" in Egypt.</p>
<p>She also defends Fox's hiring of <strong>Sarah Palin</strong>, <strong>Mike Huckabee</strong>, and other once (and future?) politicians:</p>
<blockquote>"And I supposed it really upsets some that Fox hired people who have actual political experience -- but don't guests with actual experience make for better guests? Isn't that why you pay them more? Don't you want to hear from people who, having been there, really know? Or would you prefer to hear from those on the sidelines? Given a choice, as a viewer, I want to hear from the people who have been on the inside not on the outside. It is the difference between a football sports commentator who has actually played for the NFL and one who only has watched from the sidelines. (As an aside, it may be why many appreciated my CNN OJ Simpson trial coverage -- I was not a spectator, I had actually tried murder cases. Big difference!)"</blockquote>
<p>And <strong>Bill Keller</strong>? He's just kind of a jerk.</p>
<p>"I know the executive editor of <em>New York Times</em> has an explanation for our huge viewership compared to the competition. His explanation is pathetic - he simply trashed the viewers. That was not nice to the viewers."</p>
<p>Van Susteren can't resist taking a final potshot at a certain "liberal" new organization: "(PS here is a tip for the critics...when they are bored watching Fox, they might want to take a look at NPR and see if there is any bias there!)"</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/greta-van-susteren-fox-critics-dont-watch-enough-fox-2011-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-arianna-huffington-plagerism-2011-3SHOTS FIRED: Bill Keller Accuses Arianna Huffington Of Plagiarism... Err 'Aggregation'http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-arianna-huffington-plagerism-2011-3
Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:35:00 -0500Noah Davis
<p><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4adf47ea0000000000342557/bill-keller-new-york-times.jpg" border="0" alt="bill keller new york times" /></strong> <strong>Bill Keller</strong> is back with <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/magazine/mag-13lede-t.htm?_r=1" target="_blank">another column</a> in this weekend's <em>New York Times Magazine</em>, and the <em>NYT</em> executive editor discusses why he's become "50th most powerful person in the world" according to <em>Forbes</em>, while his reporters in the field - the men and women risking their lives - are overlooked.</p>
<p>The culprit: Aggregation.</p>
<p>After taking a shot at <strong>Arianna Huffington</strong> - "who has discovered that if you take celebrity gossip, adorable kitten videos, posts from unpaid bloggers and news reports from other publications, array them on your Web site and add a left-wing soundtrack, millions of people will come" - the <a href="../../bill-keller-nyt-fox-news-2011-3">Fox-trashing</a> editor offers an anecdote about the woman who sold her company to AOL for $315 million.</p>
<p>"How great is Huffington&rsquo;s instinctive genius for aggregation? I once sat beside her on a panel in Los Angeles (on &mdash; what else? &mdash; The Future of Journalism). I had come prepared with a couple of memorized riffs on media topics, which I duly presented. Afterward we sat down for a joint interview with a local reporter. A moment later I heard one of my riffs issuing verbatim from the mouth of Ms. Huffington. I felt so ... aggregated."</p>
<p>Keller also takes a jab at AOL's acquisition, writing: "Buying an aggregator and calling it a content play is a little like a company&rsquo;s announcing plans to improve its cash position by hiring a counterfeiter."</p>
<p>But it ends happily when we start to pursue original reporting again.</p>
<p>"Then again, some of the great aggregators, Huffington among them, seem to be experiencing a back-to-the-future epiphany," Keller writes. "They seem to have realized that if everybody is an aggregator, nobody will be left to make real stuff to aggregate. Huffington has therefore hired a small stable of experienced journalists, including a few from here, to produce original journalism about business and politics."</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-keller-arianna-huffington-plagerism-2011-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>